[2] Following strong performances as a medium pace bowler in club cricket,[4] Knott received a phone call from Hampshire in July 1938 inviting him to play against Kent at Canterbury in the County Championship.
[2] Knott made nine first-class appearances during his debut season,[5] but took just one wicket in his first two matches, which prompted him to cut the pace at which he delivered the ball and add off spin to it.
[4][2] His change of bowling style bought him immediate success upon its introduction in his third match on a turning pitch against Gloucestershire,[6] with Knott taking figures of 5 for 51.
[8] He gained his county cap at the end of the 1939, but with the outbreak of the Second World War, it would be seven years before he would wear it on a cricket field.
[5] However, he was overlooked for England's winter Ashes tour to Australia in favour of leg spinner Peter Smith, who was adjudged to be a better batsman.
[5] With emergence of Jim Laker, coupled with his injury problems, Knott fell out of the reckoning for a Test cap.
[15] At the beginning of the season, Knott made two appearances for the Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) against Yorkshire and Surrey.
[5] As his career progressed, he found himself becoming more heavily involved in the running of the fishmongers business and the Banister Court Stadium, which impacted his availability and performances.
[16] Following a strong start to the 1953 season, in which he had successfully taken advantage of the good spin-bowling conditions which were on offer,[17] Knott stood on the ball during a match against Leicestershire in mid-May, injuring his foot and ruling him out for five weeks.
[5] Three years after he last played for Hampshire, Knott made a final first-class appearance for the MCC against Scotland at Aberdeen in 1957;[5] he took 8 for 38 in the Scottish second innings.
[2][19] As a "beguiling and flighty" off-spinner who could generate sharp turn, and who had in his repertoire several variations of delivery,[6][8] Knott took advantage of the uncovered wickets of the era.
[6] As chairman, he was influential in bringing to Hampshire a number of relatively unknown young players who would achieve great success with the club.
[3] Alongside his father, Knott operated the Banister Court Stadium,[1] which was used by the Southampton Saints motorcycle speedway team.
He was able to attract some of the top speedway riders of the day to the Southampton Saints, including the New Zealander Barry Briggs.
[24] He was considered by former speedway rider Pete Smith to have been one of the most influential people in the sport, who had helped to keep it going when its survival was under threat in the 1960s.
[8] Following the opening of Hampshire's new home at the Rose Bowl in 2001, Knott would attend matches at the venue when his health allowed.